Top Blog Partners

Crunch time for Arsenal as contract talks begin

Arsenal have a whole host of players approaching the last year of their contracts at the Emirates, and according to a report today, the first one to be going in to Arsene Wenger’s office is the 23 year-old Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

A few months ago I would have thought it impossible that the Ox would not re-sign and as Wenger said ‘It would be a disaster if he left Arsenal’, but now there seems to be a lot more uncertainty. It is rumoured that Arsenal are willing to increase his current £70,000-a-week deal to £100,000-a-week which is certainly not to be sniffed at whatever age you are.

But we don’t know what has been going on behind the scenes, and whether Liverpool have told his agent that they are willing to pay more or not, and we don’t know whether other clubs, like Chelsea, could maybe even offer him a ridiculous wage to turn his head.

This is going to be a tough time for Wenger, with contract talks with Ozil, Alexis, Szczesny, Gibbs, Chambers and quite a few others as he tries to save money on the wage bill while keeping everybody happy with pay increases as well!

It is no wonder that the Gunners have brought in a specialist negotiator in Huss Fahmy to help with the contract talks, or else Wenger would have no time at all to go out and buy new players!

13 thoughts on “Crunch time for Arsenal as contract talks begin”

Not really tough for Arsenal, if they are willing to let a bit of their profit go to the team development. In my opinion, Arsenal should keep and let these players go:

– Chamberlain : He would be a good competitor for players in various positions. He is very versatile, young, has high work rate, willing to fight physically, does not always play safe and talented. Losing him is a huge loss for Arsenal.

– Ozil : I hope another club is willing to get him for at least twenty millions. He looks better in 3-4-2-1, but Arsenal needs to get a real playmaker upfront.

– Sanchez : A focal point in Arsenal’s attack and often acts as a playmaker in the front. Arsenal should keep him at all costs.

– Szczesny : He could be Cech’s successor. I am sure he will perform more consistently in 3-4-2-1 formation. But he can go if he doesn’t want to be a squad player for another year.

– Gibbs : He is very quick and good at attacking. He could push Kolasinac to perform, but he can also go if he wants to, since we have got Monreal and Bramall.

– Chambers : He could be a good central defender, but he can also go if he wants to, since we have got many good central defenders.

The thing is that Ozil hasn’t lost his abilities of being an assist king, the main issue is that there is no real out & out strikers at Arsenal and when we only have a little midget bulldog always screaming for the ball who more often than not gives the ball away, well, that makes Ozil’s job more difficult and uninspiring.

Yup and Gibbs is sooo quick and good at attacking that no one wants to pay £15 million for him. 😂👍

Ozil is a very unselfish player and has great eyes for good chances. We can say he is an assist king, but a playmaker he is not.

A real playmaker should be able to dictate the tempo and possess the ball more than three touches consistently under heavy pressures. Someone like Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Cazorla, Sanchez, Neymar, Verratti and Zidane. You can rewatch how they played as compared to how Ozil played.

That screaming “little midget bulldog” happened to contribute more than Ozil in the last three seasons. A player in his and Ozil’s positions should not play safe with backpasses and sidepasses, but should release more forward through balls, that was why he often lost the ball.

Watch how Messi and Neymar play sometimes, and count how many times they lost the ball. Their positions are not for players that likes to play safe to avoid injuries and to avoid the blames. In Barcelona, they have Andre Gomes that plays like this and he is a typical Arsenal’s midfielder.

I’m not saying Ozil is not a good player. It’s just his playing style is not suitable for Arsenal’s current football style. Unless if Arsenal suddenly changes their system in the upcoming season.